An overcast afternoon in East London saw the Hammers beaten by City for seemingly the umpteenth time, but there were a lot of positives to be taken out of the game.
West Ham flew out of the blocks at the whistle and Julen Lopetegui’s side started very aggressively with a number of half chances in the first ten minutes or so.
A bright start for the Hammers but sadly it did not last long. In the 11th minute Bernardo Silva pounced on a mistake by Lucas Paqueta, who slid the ball into the path of Erling Haaland who then slotted the ball past Alphonse Areola.
0-1 , work to do !
City went close again about five minutes later, when Kevin De Bruyne hit the post from a pin point pass from Jeremy Doku.
But a minute later, out of nothing, we were level
Bowen collected down the right, runs at Gvardiol, crossed low and Dias can only divert the ball past his own goalkeeper with his left knee.
It’s an extremely lucky break for West Ham but we’ll take it.
1-1
After half an hour saw a tactical switch with Kudus and Bowen swapping flanks. Kudus is now on the right, with Bowen on the left
Just after that switch saw City lead again!, Rico Lewis rolled it into the path of Erling Halland. He stepped inside Emerson and spanked an unstoppable shot past Areola. That’s his 69th goal in 69 Premier League appearances!
1-2
City were beginning to look very good, piling on the pain, hogging the ball and leaving the Irons chasing shadows.
The Irons were very lucky to be only one goal in arrears when the half time whistle went.
The second half saw Lukasz Fabianski on for Areola, who must have picked up an injury in the first half.
City carried on as they left off, hogging the ball, passing and probing patiently on the edge of the final third under little or no pressure from West Ham’s players.
But then on the 52nd minute after a galloping run by Bowen, a pass to Kudus saw him hit the post with a venomous shot.
So close to an equaliser!
West Ham were visibly growing in confidence with each passing minute after that near miss. Some good link up play saw an increasing presence in City’s final third.
With twenty minutes to go Lopetegui decided on a double substitution with Vladimir Coufal and Niclas Fullkrug come on for Emerson and Antonio.
A couple of minutes later saw Tomas Soucek on for Edson Alvarez, which saw the Czech dragging the ball just wide of the post after a ball in from Fullkrug.
I suppose it was inevitable.
Mavropanos overcommited, leaving a big space. Nunes plays Haaland through and one-on-one with Fabianski, he clips the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper to score back-to-back hat-tricks and make it 70 Premier League goals in 69 games.
He is a bit good, this Haaland fellow
1-3
With just five minutes to go, a final throw of the dice saw Summerville come on for Bowen, who almost made an immediate impact by curling a shot around two City defenders, forcing Ederson to tip the ball on to the post to keep it out.
And that is how it finished 1-3
Having avoided our now traditional trouncing, despite having rings run around us, West Ham threatened to pull the rug from under City with an extremely spirited performance after the break.
No reason to be disheartened, definitely a work in progress !
Such a shame that the first goal was an error by Emerson and the third by Dinos as you say. I thought we played well but you can’t gift goals to this team
Thought we did well at times, City a very good side. Pac man does lose the ball at times and isn’t consistent I think Kudus should play in the middle instead of pacman, he is hard to knock off the ball and could create chances by keeping possession and moving forward. I like pacman but just think Kudus could do the job better
Completely agree. I was crying out for Summerville to come on for Paq and push Kudus inside. On his day, Paq is excellent, but I’m beginning to think he is too expensive in terms of turning over possession. For every great goal he creates, it seems he costs two.
I think you are right about Kudus, he certainly has a much higher work rate than Paqueta and Summerville could take the left. LP seemed to go off the boil when ManCity tried to tempt him away, then betting accusations and a lot of criticism during the Copa de America and coming back to the PL. He is just not a happy chap right now and WHU cannot afford that.
Yep, I think we should cash out on paq, easy on the eye but loses the ball too often.
Can you ever enjoy a loss?
However, I definitely saw improvements from previous seasons.
Would they have scored 3 had they not had Haaland?
Against teams that aren’t (probably) the best in the world, I think we will be a problem to play against.
A lot to be excited about.
COYI!
I think that’s what we wished for. A team that competes. We were up against a settled team who have played together for a while now and we gave them a game. We caused them.problems and more importantly, we were entertained! With this much improvement so soon I have high hopes for the season
I thought we played well against Championship side Manchester City.
Ok, sorry, just thought I’d put in a Simonism. 🤣
Much improved performance and Wan Bissaka and Kudus immense. Was crying out for Paqueta to be subbed at half time, move Kudus inside and bring Summerville on the left. Real questions now for J-Lo about Paq’s effectiveness as he is fantastic at his best and able to change matches in an instant but made too many costly mistakes which led to us conceding goals. Summerville only on for 5 minutes and inches away from scoring and surely deserves a start. Thank God no constant passing back and side to side which City would have punished. Lots to be positive about with Soler to come into midfield and add even more quality.
Don’t normally mention opposition but just had to admire Haaland 2nd hat trick in a week and simply world class.